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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28336209">A Christmas Kiss</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Otava/pseuds/Otava'>Otava</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Once Upon a Time (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Affection, Christmas, Christmas Party, F/M, First Dance, First Dates, First Kiss, Holiday Fic Exchange, Holidays, Love at First Sight, Mutual Pining, Nervousness, Rumbelle Secret Santa (Once Upon a Time), Rumbelle Secret Santa 2020, Self-Esteem Issues</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:55:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,593</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28336209</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Otava/pseuds/Otava</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>She caught his eye and he caught hers; but for Belle and Gold finally admit their feelings for each other would have to be a Christmas miracle!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Christmas Kiss</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For tumblr user notalwayslate. Merry Christmas!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She caught his eye as soon as she walked into his shop, his head jerking up as soon as the bell over the door rang. </p><p>Her name was Belle French and she was in town visiting her parents who owned the flower shop ‘Game of Thorns’ down the street. He had seen her around town a lot as of late; but he never quite had gotten the chance to talk to her since she’d been back, which was odd since they always had conversations that lasted for hours within a day or two of her arriving back into town. Her presence had been a yearly occurrence for nearly a decade, for as long as her parents, the older couple had lived in Storybrooke. Sometimes Belle was in town for as long as three months, sometimes she just stayed a week or two but she was always around during Christmas. </p><p>He had first stumbled upon her when he was collecting rent at the flower shop about 8 years ago. She had been covering the counter while her parents were away and he still remembered the day as if it were yesterday. She had been trimming the stems off of a bushel of roses and making a huge bouquet, very intent in her work. He had been absolutely stunning. There was a ray of light shining into the shop, hitting her just right, highlighting her chestnut curls and eyelashes as she intently focused on her work. The moment had been all too surreal, like it was out of a dream or movie of some sort. He hesitated to walk closer, afraid of running the moment. He felt something stir inside him for the first time in a long time that day that would be the bud of almost a decade of on again, off again, pinning and emotional suffering; of the anguish of never quite finding the right words to tell her how he really felt.</p><p>They made a bit of a connection that first day as he and she exchanged a handful of words. She didn’t fear him and made him exercise his mind and trip over his words as they spoke. She caught him off guard and twisted his tongue and made him feel like she had the upper hand on him when it was usually him who had the upper hand on everybody else. One thing for sure was that she was a most peculiar woman.</p><p>Belle never stayed quite long enough for him to scare her off or to succumb to town gossip. “It’s nice to see you again Mr. Gold!” is always what she would say without fail when she came back into town. Being around her made him feel shy and she almost always caught him off guard, which was a super strange thing for him since usually he considered himself quite the guarded person. There was just something about her that made him stumble and feel quite like a fool.</p><p>There had been a number of attempts on his part to appear collected and resolute when talking to her, but always she said or spoke of things that made him take a long pause to think about his next words and even on a few occasions, she made him stutter, which was very unbecoming of him. Belle had a way with her words and a unique way of thinking that he admired. But he would be remiss to not notice that there was always some weird sort of tension and awkwardness between them whenever they spoke or interacted. He could have sworn that she liked trying to get the upper hand on him and for some reason, it didn’t annoy him in the slightest, simply because it was her.</p><p>“Miss French. To what do I owe the pleasure?” he said as she walked further into his shop.</p><p>“I was just wondering if you wanted to accompany me to the town hall Christmas ball on Sunday?”</p><p>“Excuse me?” She'd been back in town about a week, hadn’t spoken to him, hadn’t even waved to him or seen him in the street and now she was here in his show inviting him to a dance when they hadn’t acknowledged each other in 7 months. Was he hearing her correctly? “You’re inviting me to the Christmas dance? You know I never go.” </p><p>“Maybe you can go this year. With me,” she added.</p><p>“Why?” he asked her cautiously.</p><p>“Why not?”</p><p>Once again she really had caught him off guard in the most unexpected way. “Very well,” he said without giving the proposal much of a second thought.</p><p>“Really!”</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>Belle quickly reached out her hand to shake his. “Alright. You can’t go back on your word now, we shook on it. Pick me up at 6 on Sunday.” She turned to leave. “Good to see you again, by the way.”</p><p>“You as well, Miss French.” He gave her a bit of a nod and found himself cracking a bit of a smile as she left, immediately feeling panic set in. He was going to be going to a dance with Belle. Why had she chosen him over all the men in Storybrooke, surely there were men more suited to her tastes that she probably had more in common with than him? He never went to the town gatherings, much less dances. What if this was an elaborate joke at his expense? She wouldn’t do that, he told himself, but this was still an odd thing to ask of him. He usually hated these sorts of things.</p><p>It was a Tuesday. He still had some time to think about her offer, still some time to back out to spend the evening alone. He didn’t hate Christmas and dances per-say, but a lot of people made a bigger deal about it than they should. Christmas was a fine holiday but all the Christmas movies, songs, the red and green, the oversaturation of it all seemed like a bit too much most of the time. It was a good time for his Pawnshop and Antiques business, he supposed.</p><p>This wasn’t a date: he had told himself this Tuesday night, a few hours after her invitation. This wasn’t a date, how could it be? They were just two acquaintances that saw each other every now and then who had nice conversations that he really looked forward to. They were friends of sorts, if he could even call it that. A date would mean that they had feelings for eachother. He had admitted to himself years back that he did indeed have feelings for her, but she never gave so much of an indication that she did as well for him.</p><p>If he was going to be honest with himself, he didn’t give her really any indication that he liked her as well. She wasn’t even around all year round, she clearly had something to go back to. He remembered years back that once she brought up the fact she had a boyfriend, he wasn't sure if she still had one, but she could. He tried his best to not think of her like that following that occasion. Despite this, he always just seemed a wreck whenever she came into town, he would be fine then his world would completely change in an instant as soon as he laid eyes on her again. </p><p>Every instance of them meeting for the first time in awhile was like how he felt the first time he had seen her. There was just something about her presence that just resonated with him and made him want to get to know here better. Getting to know her was a whole other story though. He was constantly choked up around her. And when he did open his mouth, every word and topic just seemed increasingly awkward and unlike him. He remembered their infamous chance meeting at Grannies Dinner 4 years back when he ranted about ketchup for a solid three minutes like the fool in love that he was. He was his own biggest annoyance and knew on Sunday he was going to be the most awkward man alive on the planet. Not that it mattered anyway.</p><p>The days ticked on and eventually Friday fell; he still hadn’t seen Belle since the incident, but he did keep an eye out for her when he was around town but he never happened to see her. Friday was the day he was due to collect rent at her parent’s Flower shop, he kept on thinking about what he would say if he saw her there. Something along the lines of, “See you on Sunday,” to confirm that they were indeed still on for Sunday but he had to say it in a way that wouldn’t look too over-eager, but still acknowledged that he was aware that they had a planned outing together.</p><p>Game of Thorns was next place to collect on his list and he was dreading and looking forward to the possibility of seeing Belle. She usually was around when he was there to collect rent and this is when they usually chatted. A coincidence, it probably was, but he couldn’t say for sure. </p><p>He walked into the small shop and was met with Colette French at the counter. He frowned with disappointment, now this was odd. “Oh, Hello, Mr. Gold.”</p><p>“Hello, Mrs. French. I’ve come for the rent.”</p><p>“As usual,” Colette said, handing over a wad of cash in a folder that he slipped into his breast pocket.</p><p>“Thank you,” Gold said, about to leave.</p><p>“Mr. Gold,” Colette prompted, making him falter.</p><p>“Yes? What is it?”</p><p>“My daughter,” she said. “You are going to take her to the dance on Sunday, is that true? She’s very excited and won’t stop talking about it. Told me to say “hi” for her and that she’s sorry you two couldn’t have a chat today but she’s off with one of those friends of hers shopping for a dress.”</p><p>“Ah.” Gold paused, not expecting that.</p><p>“It’s just all so strange,” Colette said.</p><p>“What do you mean?” He had to keep his defenses up and at least address that last jab from Collette. </p><p>“Oh, heavens, I mean nothing by the word ‘strange’, just poor choice of words; it’s just that she hardly talks about wanting to go out with single men nowadays and all the years I’ve lived here I’ve never once seen you go out with anyone…”</p><p>“You’ve never seen me go out with someone? Oh, I see That’s actually none of your concern.”</p><p>There was an awkwardness in the air, Colette opened her mouth to respond but he just left. So, Belle was telling her parents, or at least her mother that she was going to the dance with him, and that she was excited by it, no less. This was thrilling news, to be sure. He had felt a bit rude about how he responded to Collette French’s comment. That was what usually happened when people made comments about it being strange that people would want to spend time with him, ect. His words are what he used to defend and protect himself but they often hurt him more than they helped him. Being far too quick and curt with no sort of response back is probably how he had managed to shun and separate himself from most of Storybrooke society. Perhaps he’d apologize next time he saw the elder Mrs., French or just slip back some of the rent money. How he spoke to her was exactly why he was hated. It was probably a good thing he couldn't speak with his usually ferocity around Belle. </p><p>The day of the ball, Gold could hardly work, usually he spent Sundays crunching numbers for his various enterprises, but he could hardly focus as the time ticked on. Ultimately, he had to call it a day a lot earlier than usual on account if not getting anything done. It would be better to focus on getting ready for the ball anyway. In the days prior, he had gotten his suit cleaned and  a small trim at the barbers, all he had to do was decide between the two ties he was thinking of then pick out a complimentary pocket square to complete the look.</p><p>He was ready and dressed quite early and was just sitting there in his suit hours before he needed to be. The thought of drinking crossed his mind, but he forwent that idea. The minutes ticked by and soon it was only a half hour until he was due to pickup Belle. He could hardly wait any longer and decided that he would head over early. Hopefully he wouldn’t be such a nervous wreck once he saw her. He had practically been panicking for hours and it was quite unbecoming of him; she shouldn’t see him like that.</p><p>Gold arrived at “Game of Thorns’ and the house that was attached to it to find the building quite empty. No lights, no sign of movement. Gold had gone around back to the house and fear crept in his mind once again. What if Colette French were to open the door and was mad at him for the way he spoke to her? He’d have to apologize and then explain to Belle how he had been awful to her mother and l undeserving of her, it's what he should do regardless if the woman opened the door or not. What if Maurice French opened the door and didn’t expect to see him there or know that he was taking his daughter to the ball? The man would probably never forgive him for that. He crossed his fingers as he knocked on the door, hopping not to have to deal with more awkwardness than Belle.</p><p>“Just a minute!” he heard Belle’s voice call out to his relief. Her reply was accompanied by a few loud thuds and a sound of clattering. Belle opened the door a few moments later and she looked gorgeous. “Come on in, I’m just finishing my makeup.”</p><p>He hesitated at the threshold. “If you don’t mind, I think I rather-”</p><p>“Nonsense!” Belle pulled him in. “Nobody else is home anyway, if that’s what you’re worried about. Please sit, it’s far too cold outside and I’ll only be a moment longer.” She disappeared into the next room over. Gold looked around. He had been in this house and room a few times while collecting rent, but he mostly did his collecting in the attached flower shop. It had changed since he had last seen it. He didn’t know whether to keep his eyes transfixed on an object in front of him or to allow himself to look around. He stayed mainly focused at the wall in front of him but started to look around as the minutes ticked on.</p><p>Belle had shocked him so much when he met her at the door. She had dressed up considerably, he couldn’t really remember seeing her pull out all the belles and whistles like this, even at the previous dances that he had only seen in passing. She was stunning regularly but now she had on jewelry, a nice rose scented perfume, and the most gorgeous satin green dress that most certainly made him feel things. Once again, she had left him speechless and in awe of her.</p><p>Belle had been a little longer than five minutes when she finally came out again. This time she had a shawl on and had finished her makeup. Her lips were candy apple red but looked more delectable than the sweet treat itself. “Sorry, I took a little longer than I expected,” she said a little sheepishly. </p><p>Gold was up on his feet in a fraction of a second. “No worries.” He should tell her how beautiful she looks, he thought. “You look stunning,” he said quickly before realizing that the words had left his mouth.</p><p>“Oh, thank you. You look quite dashing yourself. It looks like we match too.” </p><p>He looked down at his tie and pocket square which complimented her dress and bright red lips and was glad that he had chosen this ensemble. “It appears so.”</p><p>Belle let out a little laugh. “It’s good to chat with you again Mr. Gold. How about we finish catching up in the car?”</p><p>The ride to the ball couldn’t have felt shorter. </p><p>It was a good 15 minutes to the town hall with the roads he took but the two of them were still comfortably chatting in the car 15 minutes after they had parked. Most of the awkwardness had melted away and the two of them had gotten to talk with one another, uninterrupted, awkwardly, longer than they had ever before. It was nice and the conversation flowed smoothly.</p><p>“Is there a reason that you decided to go to the ball with me, Belle?” he asked her. It had been the question on his mind, after all.</p><p>“Well, I wanted some arm candy to keep me company,” she teased. A false answer.</p><p>That was immediately when he became a mess again, stumbling over his words until he finally said they should probably get going and get to the dance. His confidence continued to falter as he felt that all eyes were on them. “Gold and her!? That poor girl,” he heard somebody say. Perhaps it was even what he deserved to hear, but it was something he wouldn’t stand for. He snapped back his head in the direction of the voice but couldn’t tell who it came from as everyone in the vicinity shrunk back in recoil. He was about to open up his mouth and shout at them when he felt Belle’s hand rest on his elbow, pulling him back.</p><p>“Don’t mind them. Please, let’s continue on.”</p><p>He felt his anger melt right out of his body. “Ok,” he said plainly. He was then introduced to some of Belle’s friends, women around her age and perhaps around his age who he had seen around town but hadn’t really talked to before due to not having any business dealings with him. They were polite, welcoming, and nice to both of them. They stood gathered in a group with them for about an hour before people began to break off and dance or mingle elsewhere. His leg being the way it was made him a clumsy dancer and he had spent the previous week hoping that she wouldn’t actually ask him to dance at the dance but knew the question would probably be unavoidable.</p><p>After the conversation with the group had filtered out and only a few of the uncoupled people they were talking to remained, he suggested out loud that Belle take one of them out on the dancefloor so he wouldn’t have to. Despite wanting to stay in her company, she did deserve to have a bit of fun for herself. “Oh, I was hoping to dance with you if that’s something you’re interested in?”</p><p>Gold shook his head. “I have two left feet and don’t make a great dance partner,” he said as he tapped his cane on the ground for emphasis.</p><p>“Does it hurt you to dance?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“You just don’t want to?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” he said. “It’s just been quite awhile and I can’t quite move certain ways or as fast as my partner.”</p><p>“Oh,” Belle said. “I don’t mind that at all. Would you be willing to try a slower song?”</p><p>“I’ll think about it, if the opportunity arises.” Not but one song later, the tempo of the new song signaled her to ask again, He reluctantly agreed to dance with her. She made him give in so easily. They danced to two songs before they retired to an alcove alone.</p><p>“That was fun.”</p><p>“It was,” Gold agreed. “But I need a bit of a break now.”</p><p>“That’s understandable, I’m a bit tired myself.”</p><p>They sat looking out at the crowd.</p><p>“Thank you,” Gold said. </p><p>“What for.”</p><p>“I- thank you for your company. I don’t really go to these sorts of things but I had fun tonight.”</p><p>“I did too, but the night’s not over.”</p><p>“True. But every time I see you, time feels too short. You always leave just when-”</p><p>“Just when what?”</p><p>“Just when I think you’re going to stay and grow used to your company.”</p><p>“I’m leaving the first week of the New Year. There’s still some time left.”</p><p>“But I want to get to know you better, have for years,” Gold said. “I-” he paused, fighting through the next few words. “Even though you are only going to be here a bit longer, would you consider going out with me again?”</p><p>“On a date?” Belle asked.</p><p>“Yes. If you don’t mind, I’d like to take you out on a date.”</p><p>“I’d like that very much Mr. Gold. I never thought  you’d ask; that’s why i thought I’d be the one to ask you first, here.”</p><p>Gold flushed. “Is this a…”</p><p>“Well it didn’t have to be.” Belle was equally as red. “But I liked to think it was, and is, if you don’t mind. Each year I hoped you would ask me, but you never did, so it had to be me to ask you now. I- There’s something about you. From the moment I saw you I just couldn’t get over you and I'd like to get to know you better as well.”</p><p>“I-”</p><p>“Merry Christmas,” Belle said, bringing her face closer towards his for a kiss.</p>
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